Setting up a new email address in Microsoft Outlook is usually a straight-forward process however, sometimes you will need to configure Outlook settings manually to get things working properly, and today I will show you how. This guide is for all current versions of Outlook in Microsoft Office 2007, 2010 or 2013 as it’s almost the same procedure for all three.
I have split this guide into four (4) parts, each progressively more complicated and requiring more information. Hopefully you will get Outlook to work using part 1, but if not then move on to part 2, then to part 3 and finally to part 4. You will need the following information from your ISP or network administrator before you start this guide:
- Part 1 is the easiest requiring only your email address and password
- Part 2 is also easy requiring only email address, password and incoming/outgoing server addresses
- Part 3 is more advanced requiring email address, password, incoming/outgoing server addresses and ports
- Part 4 explains the technical details of an off-network email address, alternative port numbers and custom port numbers which may be the case if unsuccessful in earlier parts of this guide
- Grab a piece of paper and pen to take notes too
Watch the video above and/or follow the text guide below.
Setup email address in Microsoft Outlook 2007, 2010 or 2013
Part 1: Automatic setup using only username & password
- Open Outlook
- For a new, never before setup Outlook, the Microsoft Outlook 20xx Startup window should now be open:
- Click Next > then select Yes to the Would you like to configure an E-mail account? screen, then click Next > again
- For a previously setup Outlook (ie. you are adding an email account as well as an existing one):
- Office 2010 & 2013:
- Click the File tab, then click the Info menu item (left pane) then click the + Add Account button
- Office 2007:
- Click the Tools menu, then click Account Settings
- Now select the E-mail tab and click the New… button
- You should now see the Choose E-mail Service screen
- Select the Microsoft Exchange, POP3, IMAP, or HTTP option and click Next >
- Office 2010 & 2013:
- The Auto Account Setup screen should now be in view, make sure the E-mail Account option is selected
- Enter your details as follows:
- Your Name: (eg. John Citizen)
- E-mail Address: (eg. john.citizen@ricmedia.com)
- Password: the password given to you from your ISP (Internet Service Provider) or network administrator
- Click the Next > button.
- Outlook will now search for all server settings from your ISP, if a dialog appears saying “encrypted connection not available”, click Next >
- If Outlook is successful, you will see the Congratulations window, click Finish and you’re all done
- If Outlook is unsuccessful, you will see a red cross. Go to part 2 of this guide below
Part 2: Automatic setup using username, password & basic server settings
- Follow steps 1, 2 & 3 in part 1 of this guide (above)
- The Auto Account Setup screen should now be in-view
- Select the Manually configure server settings or extra server types option and click Next >
- For Outlook 2013, select the POP or IMAP option on the Choose service screen, then click Next >
- For Outlook 2007 and 2010, leave the Internet E-mail option selected and click Next >
- Enter your details into the Internet E-mail Settings screen as follows:
- Your Name: (eg. John Citizen)
- E-mail Address: (eg. john.citizen@ricmedia.com)
- Account Type: (eg. POP3 (recommended) or IMAP)
- Incoming mail server: (eg. mail.ricmedia.com or pop.verizon.net)
- Outgoing mail server (SMTP): (eg. mail.ricmedia.com or smtp.verizon.net)
- User Name: (eg. john.citizen@ricmedia.com)
- Password: the password given to you from your ISP (Internet Service Provider) or network administrator
- Leave the Remember password option checked (recommended)
- Leave the Require logon using Secure Password Authentication (SPA) option un-checked unless your ISP requires SPA
- Leave the Test Account Settings by clicking the Next button option checked
- For the Deliver new messages to: dialog, leave the New Outlook Data File option selected (recommended) unless you wish to merge with an existing data file
- Once you’ve entered the details, click Next >
- Outlook will now search for remaining server settings from your ISP, if a dialog appears saying “encrypted connection not available”, click Next >
- If Outlook is successful, you will see the Congratulations window, click Finish and you’re all done
- If Outlook is unsuccessful, you will see a red cross. Go to part 3 of this guide below
Part 3: Manual setup using username, password & advanced server settings
- Follow steps 1 through 5 in part 2 of this guide above, entering all your details in the Internet E-mail Settings screen
- Click the More Settings… button at the bottom-right of the window
- Select the Outgoing Server tab
- If your ISP requires SMTP authentication:
- Check the My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication box (recommended)
- Leave the Use same settings as my incoming mail server option selected (recommended) and go to step 5 OR
- If required, enter alternative credentials in the Log on using: fields, leave Remember password checked (recommended) AND
- Check the Require Secure Password Authentication (SPA) option but only if required by your ISP, otherwise leave un-checked
- Click the Advanced tab
- For POP3 accounts:
- Enter either 110 (default) or 995 (SSL/TLS encryption) for the Incoming server (POP3): port field
- For SSL/TLS encrypted connections, also check the This server requires an encrypted connection box
- Go to step 8
- For IMAP accounts:
- Enter either 143 (default) or 993 (SSL/TLS encryption) for the Incoming server (IMAP): ports field
- For the Use the following type of encrypted connection: option, select Auto from the drop-down list
- Go to step 8
- Enter 25 (default), 465 (legacy SSL encryption) or 587 (TLS/STARTTLS encryption) for the Outgoing server (SMTP): port field
- For the Use the following type of encrypted connection: option, select Auto from the drop-down list
- Now click OK to the Internet E-mail Settings screen
- Finally, click Next > on the Add New Account screen
- Outlook will now attempt connection to your ISP using the server settings provided
- If Outlook is successful, you will see the Congratulations window, click Finish and you’re all done
- If Outlook is unsuccessful, you will see a red cross. Please call your ISP or network administrator for troubleshooting or see below
If you followed this guide through to part 3 and are still having no luck, call your ISP or local Tech Guru to help as you may have an off-network email address, or your service uses custom ports and server addresses. An off-network email address may need your on-network SMTP server address, username and password to send mail through (see below).
Part 4: Off-network email address & custom port numbers
Below I have outlined a scenario that explains what an on-network and off-network email address is:
- John’s ISP is Verizon
- John has an on-network email address, john@verizon.net, already setup in his Outlook mail program
- John also wants to send and receive mail from his off-network email, john@work.com
- Verizon requires that any off-network email address (john@work.com) send email via their SMTP servers to stop SPAM on the verizon.net network
- This means that when sending email from the john@work.com email address, the outgoing server will be smtp.verizon.net, not smtp.work.com
- John can still receive email from the pop.work.com server on his Verizon internet service, but he must send email via the smtp.verizon.net server using his john@verizon.net email and password to authenticate
- Hence the terms on-network (john@verizon.net) and off-network (john@work.com) email addresses
Custom port numbers and server addresses
Sometimes companies use custom port numbers for incoming and outgoing servers, along with non-best-practice server addresses. Port numbers can be anything from 1 to 65535 but usually a number above the first 1,000 ports as anything below is usually reserved for operating systems.
Incoming server addresses/names usually start with pop. pop3. mail. or imap. and outgoing server addresses/names start with smtp. or mail. however, it’s not uncommon to see names like incoming. outgoing. inbound. outbound. etc or other descriptive terms.
Omg.. I can not tell u how many days n hours i’ve spent on other places n posts i’ve tried with no luck.Till I found u… Just a minor mistake I made n couldn’t figure it out..
Thank U Soooooo much.now I can get some sleep….
Ric. Thanks for this tutorial on setting up Outlook. I need to set up a client where the server requires STARTTLS in the security settings. Can you point me in the right direction on how I might achieve this. I have Outlook 2013.
Thanks
Geoff
Hi Geoff, no worries. With STARTTLS you’ll need to use port 587 and check the box “My outgoing server requires authentication” and use the same credentials as your incoming server.
Cheers!
Richie